The Cassidy Chronicles
by RoseRavenclaw
Summary: Christabel Cassidy and her twin Clorinda have known they weren't quite normal since they were five, but they just took the fact for granted that they could change their looks whenever they liked. Until they started "boarding school" at eleven- but the strangest (and most fun) boarding school they had ever heard of. (Warning: Contains slight romance and much craziness. A major AU.)
1. Chapter 1

Oh, Chriiiissyyyy!"

Christabel's head jerked up from her pillow. In the bed on the other side of the room, her twin sister Clorinda jerked up at exactly the same moment.

"Oh, drat, I forgot it was my turn to make breakfast," Christabel sighed. "And I slept through the alarm!"

"Chrissy!" their mother called again from downstairs.

"Be there in a minute!" Christabel shouted. Then she looked over at Clorinda. Their eyes met, and at the same moment their noses started to grow longer until they looked like beaks. They stared at each other for a second and then smothered their giggles in their pillows.

Christabel jumped out of bed and pulled a dress out of her closet. "Clorinda, next week we're turning eleven!" she said.

"So? It isn't next week yet," said Clorinda.

"E-le-ven," Christabel repeated. "Remember what Dad told us?"

A look of understanding came over Clorinda's face. "Right! When we're eleven we get to go to Dad's awesome boarding school! What was it called, Pig Blisters?"

Christabel shook her head. "No, Lin, it's called Hogwarts. Well, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But Hogwarts for short." She finished braiding her hair and ran downstairs.

Elizabeth Cassidy was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. She grinned weirdly and said, "You're late."

"Sorry, Mum," Christabel said, getting out a frying pan. "I was dreaming again and didn't wake up when the alarm went off. Wait a second, do you know someone named Crazy Clone?" Elizabeth grinned and nodded. "Thought so," Christabel sighed. "Crazy potion again."

Christabel mixed up pancake batter and started cooking it. As she worked, she thought about magic. Her mind replayed the day she had discovered her abilities as if it had happened yesterday.

 _She was five years old, standing in front of the mirror trying to put up her hair in a bun. Her mother had just cut it, so it was being very difficult._ I wish my hair was long and auburn like Clorinda's _, she thought. And all of a sudden, it was._

 _Fortunately, her mother was shopping and wasn't home to hear her. She burst into tears and ran downstairs to where her father was working on a book he was writing. He wrote "fictional" books about wizards, which made him a fair amount of money._

 _Walter Cassidy looked up from his work. "What is the matter, Christabel?" he asked, pulling her onto his lap._

 _Christabel buried her face in her father's shoulder. "My hair," she sobbed. "It turned red like Clorinda. I wished it was long and auburn like hers and then it turned like this!"_

 _Walter went into a coughing fit so his daughter wouldn't know he was laughing. "Just wish it back," he said. A few seconds later, Christabel's hair was back to normal._

 _Then he explained to her that she was a Metamorphagus, a shape-changer, just like he was. By the end of his explanation, Christabel had stopped crying and was laughing at her father's ridiculous faces._

"But you can't tell your mother," he had said. And she never had told, but she had grown her hair back to its previous length. The day after that, Clorinda had discovered that she was a Metamorphagus as well, and instead of crying like Christabel had, she had screamed and kept screaming, even when Walter came upstairs and found her with bright purple skin. Christabel smothered a smile at the thought.

On the twins' tenth birthday, their father had come into their room while their mother was baking a cake. He explained all the strange things that had happened to them over the last few years- flowers opening when they touched them, a pan of lasagna turning upside-down on the table when Elizabeth served it (it was the meal the twins liked the least), and other random unusual occurrences.

He was a wizard, and they were witches.

He had told them all about the castle where he had gone to school, and that when they were eleven they would get to go too. He showed them his wand that he had gotten when he was eleven. Then he told them that after he had married their mother, she had told him that she absolutely detested magic, so he had stopped using it, except when she wasn't there. He showed them a few spells, including one he had made up himself- "Up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T," which made whatever his wand was pointed at sprout arms and legs and run away screaming. "Try it on me!" Clorinda had begged, and when he cast the spell on her, her feet had sprouted arms and legs and run all over the room.

Christabel laughed to herself as she served breakfast to her parents and sister. She couldn't wait to be eleven.


	2. Chapter 2

It was May 13, 1974, the Cassidy twins' eleventh birthday. Today it was Walter's turn to make breakfast, so they could sleep in a little longer. Despite being allowed to sleep until eight, they were awake at seven due to being so excited.

"We're turning eleven today!" Clorinda shouted as soon as she woke up.

Christabel sat up and grinned at her sister. "Let's go check the mail!"

The twins jumped out of bed, got dressed in matching yellow blouses and long blue skirts, and ran downstairs and through the kitchen. "Good morning, Mum!" Christabel called over her shoulder. "Getting the mail!"

Clorinda beat Christabel to the mailbox, but couldn't get it open. Christabel pushed her out of the way and opened it, then stuck her head in and passed things out. "Here, Lin, here's an electric bill, magazine, advertisement, letter from one of Dad's publishers-"

"CHRISSY!" Clorinda shouted. "IS THERE OR IS THERE NOT-"

Christabel pulled her head out and grinned. "And last but not least, two Hogwarts letters!" She waved them in the air triumphantly.

The girls high-fived and ran inside, straight to their father's study. "Dad, we got them!" Clorinda whispered breathlessly.

Walter looked up and took the letters Christabel was holding out. "Sure enough! Why don't you open them?" he said, giving them back.

Clorinda got hers open first. "I can't read it! Read it, Chrissy!"

Christabel pulled her letter out of the envelope. "Wow, fancy script. Okay... Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards... what the heck is all that? Whatever, the headmaster's name is Albus Dumbledore."

"CHRISSY!" Clorinda shouted. "Just read it!"

"Okay, okay." Christabel started to read, with Clorinda following along in her own letter. "Dear Miss Cassidy, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September first. We await your owl by no later than July thirty-first." She finished and looked up, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "We're going to Hogwarts! But wait..." Her face fell as she pulled a second sheet of parchment out of the envelope. "Shopping list? How are we going to buy wizard stuff? Do you have any wizard money?"

Walter smiled. "I have some Galleons I've been saving for when you two needed them. This afternoon while your mother bakes your cake, we'll go to Diagon Alley."

Clorinda, the impulsive, energetic one, jumped up and down, trying to hold in her excited laughter.

Christabel, the calm one, smiled happily and hugged her father.

This school year was going to be amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

Christabel came out of the cauldron shop, followed by her father and sister. The girls were each carrying a cauldron, into which they had put their books and robes.

"One more stop," Walter said. "Chrissy, find Ollivander's."

Christabel looked around the street. "There!" she said, pointing to a shop at the end of the street.

Ollivander looked up as the three people entered his shop. "What can I do for you?"

"Wands for these two, please," said Walter. "Christabel and Clorinda Cassidy."

Ollivander adjusted his glasses. "Oh, you must be Walter Cassidy. Famous for inventing nonsensical spells, not least among them Up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T, also Green Lipser and its corollaries, and the infamous Scrugify."

Walter smiled at the memory and nodded. "That's me."

"All right, Christabel first," said Ollivander. Christabel went a little timidly up to the counter. Ollivander handed her a wand. "Pine and phoenix, let's see how this one works," he said, more to himself than her.

"How do I see how it works?" Christabel asked, forgetting shyness in her interest in the wand.

"Wave it around. You don't need to know any spells," Ollivander assured.

Christabel did. A few boxes fell off Ollivander's shelves. She apologized, more than a little confused.

"No, no, it's all right, happens all the time," said the wand maker, levitating the boxes back onto the shelves. "Try this one. Willow and phoenix, ten inches. Seems to suit you better, I think."

This time when Christabel waved the wand, absolutely nothing happened, except that the tip glowed slightly for a second. Ollivander nodded approvingly. "That's the one. Clorinda now."

Clorinda skipped eagerly to the desk. Ollivander handed her the wand that hadn't worked for Christabel. She waved it, and a bunch of boxes fell off a shelf. Christabel jumped.

"Nope." Ollivander handed her another wand. This time it didn't wait to be waved, but started jerking Clorinda around the room, despite her orders to "stop that immediately!"

"Drop it!" Ollivander shouted, as the chandelier came crashing to the floor. Clorinda dropped the wand and stared in shock. The wand maker laughed. "Good thing I put an Unbreakable Charm on that." He picked up the wand and put it away. "How about this one?"

"This one" was hornbeam wood, phoenix feather core, and worked just fine for Clorinda. Walter paid for the wands, and the three left Diagon Alley.


	4. Chapter 4

(Author's note: I mentioned this was an AU, right? Well, at this point in the story the Pettigrew family has moved to Africa, hence the Marauders being three instead of four, so you can probably guess what that will entail later on...)

A few months later, it was September first. Christabel and Clorinda walked with their father through the train station.

Walter had told Elizabeth that the girls were going to boarding school, "a very good one with the best teachers," and since he usually managed all business-like operations, she had just let him deal with it and made no more inquiries.

Clorinda bounced with excitement as she pushed her luggage cart. "So where's the platform?" The three had stopped between platforms nine and ten.

Walter pointed straight ahead. "Through that pillar. Remember what I told you about secret places in the wizarding world?"

Christabel nodded. "So that's like a secret doorway?"

"Yes. You run straight at the pillar." Walter hugged his daughters. "Goodbye, girls. Be good, listen to your professors, don't get too involved with Slytherins, and learn a lot!" Then he gave them a little nudge, and they ran through the pillar and onto a different platform altogether. Christabel's eyes widened as she saw the train and the platform crowded with wizards and witches.

On the other side of the pillar, a group of three boys were winding their way, single file, through the crowd. The one in the front aligned himself with the pillar and shouted, "Charge!" All four started running. The leader got most of the way through, and then suddenly stopped. The other two crashed into him, and they all skidded through and onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

The leader whirled around and scolded the boy behind him. "Really, James, you made me crash into those girls!" He had indeed crashed into Clorinda's cart, which had crashed into Christabel's, and the twins' luggage, along with the three boys', was scattered all over.

"It wasn't my fault, Remus, you didn't say Halt!" James retorted. "And you didn't even apologize. Be civil to the ladies!"

"They aren't ladies," said the third boy, poking his head out from behind James. "They're girls, and from the look of them this is their first year."

"They still count, Sirius!" James retorted.

"No, they don't!" Sirius insisted.

"Now, Padfoot," James started.

"'Now, Padfoot. Now, Padfoot!'" Sirius imitated. "Well, now Padfoot says you need to stop it with your 'be civil to the ladies,' Prongsie!"

"Prongsie?! In public!" James shouted.

During this argument, Remus had politely apologized to the girls and helped them pick up their luggage, as well as retrieving his own. At the word Prongsie, he jumped over and put a hand on James's shoulder before he could tackle Sirius. "No you don't, Prongs."

"But he called me Prongsie!" James protested.

"So? Ignore him like you ignore old Snape," Remus suggested.

"Are you comparing me to SNAPE?!" Sirius shouted.

"You know, it doesn't make sense that you two fight all the time when you're best friends," Remus remarked.

"Now Remus, we make perfect sense," said James.

"I'm serious!" said Remus.

"No, you're not!" shouted Sirius. "I'M Sirius!"

Remus groaned. "Oh, no, not the Sirius and serious thing again."

James stopped _this_ argument by looking at the clock. "Oy, Moony, it's five minutes to eleven! We've got to hurry!" He started running toward the train, followed by the other two boys, with the girls in hot pursuit.

Christabel and Clorinda found an empty compartment and sat down. For a while they alternately talked and looked through their spellbooks, Christabel doing most of the looking and Clorinda doing most of the talking.

It just so happened that their compartment was next to the three boys they'd literally run into at the train station. Clorinda was just casting Up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T on a candy wrapper, when she heard some commotion from the room next door. "Let's go see what's going on!" she said. Christabel agreed, and the two girls stepped in, to be shocked at what they saw.

James was laughing, Remus was lying on the floor snoring like a log, and Sirius was sitting on the legs of a boy with rather long, oily black hair, and yelling into his face. "And you shouldn't be calling poor old Prongsie names!" he finished.

"Prongsie?! In front of Snape!" James screamed. At the last second, he decided not to jump on Sirius, because he was defending him from Snape.

"What's going on?" Christabel asked.

"Well," Sirius started indignantly, "he," poking Snape in the nose, "called James a nearsighted nitwit!"

Clorinda blew a raspberry at Snape. "Don't be calling people names, weirdo."

Christabel elbowed her and muttered, "That wasn't too polite," out of the corner of her mouth. "But still, no calling people names, I agree," she added in the direction of Snape.

While Snape was distracted by them, Sirius pointed his wand and said, "Green Lipser!" Snape stared at his reflection in the window. His lips and almost his whole face had turned green, his hair was bright pink, and his nose was indigo with orange spots. He left very grumpily.

Meanwhile Remus Lupin was still on the floor sleeping, yelling about sandwiches which were getting stolen by a certain long-haired, swampy-haired weirdo. "Give me back my mayonnaise sandwiches!" he shouted. "MY MAYONNAISE!"

Sirius poked him with his foot. "That's Moony for you. Always sleeping."


End file.
